There are two semantic phenomena made prominent with the advent of tagging:
- We use related words to describe a concept wrapped in a point-of-view.
If memory serves, in his Ontology is Overrated presentation Clay Shirky uses “film”, “movies”, and “cinema” as an example. Each of these words describes similar, but different things. - We use the same word to describe vastly different concepts.
Take “java” for example it could be referring to coffee, code, or a country.
Surprisingly, Google, Yahoo, and MSN haven’t yet connected people with their points of view. Dave Winer suggests:
Reminds me of something I wrote about on why Google Adsense doesn’t work.
Whether it’s the words in this blog or other sites I’ve read – I’m implicitly declaring context and point-of-view every time the browser refreshes. Then it goes straight down the memory hole.
(What I’ve looked at before + What I’m looking at now) / What you’re trying to tell me = Targeted ad
Excuse me, could I get a refill on the Attention Kool-aid?